


a resolution to devotion

by guiltylights



Category: One Piece
Genre: Gen, I think I just like making Law over-think things and have SHPs clear things up for him, M/M, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Dressrosa, fair warning, mention of Marineford, mentions of Ace and Corazon, this fic was funny at first but then it got serious and sad, uh happy belated Valentine's Day?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 08:09:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17825057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guiltylights/pseuds/guiltylights
Summary: But still, Law cannot understand. How Luffy expresses his love so openly. So easily, as though he could never understand why anybody or anything could ever think to hurt it, hurt him with it, hurt others with it. What Law can’t comprehend, is precisely that. How Straw-Hat Luffy loves the people he does as though the world is too small.Luffy stares hard at Law after his question, and Law feels profoundly uncomfortable. But then suddenly, he opens his arms.‘Does Torao want a hug?’The Straw-Hat pirates are affectionate.





	a resolution to devotion

**Author's Note:**

> [time started: 30th Oct 18, 10:53pm;— ] 
> 
> I really like the idea of the Straw-Hat pirates being like, really platonically physically affectionate. Like listen, listen—Luffy’s arms can hold everybody at once. How is that not a cause for him to hug everybody all the time, every time. I also like the idea of Luffy being so incredibly physically affectionate with everybody on his crew that they, being his crew and all, end up adapting and so completely used to it that outsiders are completely boggled by it. 
> 
> And of course that outsider I’m talking about is gonna be Law because he’s the human personification of the void and his reactions to such a concept would be hilarious – Can Luffy Hug The Void, Stay Tuned To Find Out

.

.

.

.

.

Law’s noticed something, on this ship.

The Straw-Hat pirates are affectionate.

He hadn’t realised it, at first. The first few days onboard of the Straw-Hat Pirates’ ship had served as ample distraction, with Law having his hands full just attempting to understand life on board the cheerful lion-headed ship. (It turns out, the chaos that is one Monkey D. Luffy is not just limited to his own ridiculous being; the rest of the Straw-Hat crew are just as noisy and full of nonsense as their captain is, albeit in different ways, and so Law took quite a while to adjust and adapt to their daily living, so different from the methodical and structured days of his submarine.) As such, it took Law quite a while before he started to notice that, actually, the Straw-Hat Pirates are really rather affectionate.

They casually sling arms around each other’s shoulders, clasp hands around wrists, slump their bodies into laps, or press arms against each other. They’re touchy-feely in a way that Law is unused to seeing, and it is—it is—

It is something, to say the least.

Like right now. Law’s resting in the shade of the tree planted in the lawn, Kikoku resting over his shoulder and his legs stretched out in front of him, and he’s attempting a light doze that is being made impossible due to the fact that the Straw-Hat ship’s cook and swordsman are currently having a vicious argument not three feet away from where Law is sitting. Law cracks his eyes open. Yet, even as the cook and swordsman trade poisonous barbs and insults back and forth, they stand close and angled together in a way that Law thinks is wholly unnecessary even for an argument, and Law watches the easy way they reach and grab for each other’s front lapels, hands brushing against arms and skin and clothes.

Their arguing increases in volume. Law sighs minutely and gives up his hopes for an afternoon nap.

‘Are you done taking up space and cluttering up the deck yet, you shitty mosshead?’ The cook’s sneering, his right arm hoisting up a tray with two tall glasses of juice painstakingly decorated with straws and umbrellas and slices of fruits, held safely far away to prevent spillage from the swordsman who looks about three seconds from drawing his swords. ‘I have to take these drinks over to the ladies now, and I nearly tripped over your ugly head just now—move out of the way, bastard. And stop taking naps where you please!’

The cook’s other hand is tucked into the pocket of his dress pants, and the cook has a cigarette clenched between his teeth. Law wonders idly how the cook manages to do his job as well as he does despite being what, as far as Law has seen, an incorrigible chain-smoker—smoking dulls the taste buds, usually—but he files that information away as another miraculous and unexplainable phenomena that seems almost commonplace within Straw-Hat’s influence.

The sound emitting from the swordsman’s throat can only be called a growl. ‘The hell you talking about?’ He barks. ‘The amount of things you smoking getting into your head? Get out of my sight, your eyebrow’s an eyesore to my nap.’

The eyebrow in question bunches and glares as the cook flares up at the insult. _‘I’ll show you eyesore, you fucking bastard—’_

_‘Bring it on, I’m not scared of you, I could cut you down in my sleep—’_

Just as Law is seriously contemplating breaking up the fight himself (or, more likely, moving himself to somewhere else less obtrusive; what happens on this ship is none of his business and Law doesn’t want to get involved), Law hears the sound of a door slamming open, and then the sound of slippers slapping against wooden floors, and realises with an ominous feeling that those sounds combined together could only mean one thing: the calamity and disaster and all-round headache that is called Monkey D. Luffy is coming their way.

_‘Zoro! Sanji!’_

Zoro and Sanji don’t even pause to look up from where they’re snarling into each other’s faces. This blatant disrespect of the captain of the ship would normally raise red flags in Law’s mind, but it’s been clear from day one that the Straw-Hats don’t run on the normal rules of order and authority, so Law lets that go in favour of eyeing Straw-Hat warily as he bounds down the stairs and runs across the lawn deck, undeterred by his crewmates’ disregard.

Luffy skids to a stop just a few steps away from the swordsman and the cook, one hand clamped securely over his straw hat to prevent it flying away in his excitement.

 _‘Zoro, Sanji!’_ He hollers again, as though his crewmates are not three steps away from him and can hear him just fine. Straw-Hat’s wide brown eyes zero in and gleam at his crewmates in a way that can surely reflect nothing good. ‘I see an island up ahead! It’s time for adventure!’

‘For the last time, Luffy—’ The orange-haired navigator’s voice floats over from above, irritated, ‘—that’s not an island, it’s just a rock outcropping!’

Straw-Hat pouts upwards to somewhere Law can’t see, presumably to where the navigator is. ‘It’s an island!’ He insists, before turning his head back to where the cook and swordsman are still glaring each other down.

‘Sanji, Zoro! Come with me to check out the island!’

‘You wanna fight, cook? Is that it? We can do it right here, I’d knock you flat on your back in seconds flat—’ There’s the sing of metal sliding out of sheath, the glint of steel in the sunlight; Law glances at that for a moment, feels decidedly unconcerned, and closes his eyes.

‘You, beat me?’ The cook scoffs. ‘Your whole head’s just stuffed full of algae, isn’t it, mosshead? Unable to comprehend anything at all—’

Law hears a _swoosh_ of air and opens his eyes again just in time to see Straw-Hat fling a hand out towards the helm of the ship, arm stretching impossibly long lengths to grip a painted metal edge of the lion’s mane. Straw-Hat grins, wide and unrepentant, and backs up a few steps, stretching the tension in his arm for as much as space would allow—and then he lets go, allowing physics to take its course and hurtle him straight towards the top of the figurehead. With the swordsman and the cook standing right in the way.

Law flinches, startled, but Straw-Hat’s other arm shoots out to hit the swordsman and the cook right in their stomachs, grabbing them around their waists and dragging them with him to the front of the ship. An impact like that would normally knock the air out of the average man—or stop someone in mid-conversation and mid-thought at the very _least_ , but—

_‘Who the fuck are you calling Swirly, you sewer-headed bastard—’_

_‘It’s you, you deaf huh, shitty cook, want me to slice off your ears for y—wait what did you just call me—’_

Straw-Hat crashes onto the top of the lion figurehead in a heap of rubbery limbs, with swordsman and cook and all. His limbs snap back to a normal length, and as he pulls the cook and the swordsman closer to his side in an absurd one-armed hug as he squints out to sea, they continue to bicker relentlessly while pressed close to their captain’s side, as if nothing has happened at all. The swordsman’s back is pressed up against Straw-Hat’s side, the cook’s elbow is digging into the swordsman’s chest—his tray of drinks still balanced perfectly on his right hand, _somehow_ —and the both of them are squeezed together within the cage of their captain’s arm. As Law watches, they _still continue to argue_ , nonplussed and completely uncaring of their current situation. Laughter rings out of Straw-Hat, loud and free, mixing with his crewmates’ raised voices.

Law can only stare at their figures in disbelief.

So, yeah, that.

.

.

.

It’s not as if Law thinks physical contact itself is weird.

He does it with his own crew all the time—Shachi and Penguin often sling an arm across his shoulders or lean into his personal space, whether during strategy meetings or just for the want of it; Law himself also frequently takes naps on Bepo, his white bear navigator, leaning against the soft fur of his crewmate as Bepo holds himself still, whiling away long afternoons under the seas. So no, Law is no stranger to the idea of physical contact and affection—it just that the Straw-Hats do it _so often._

It’s in the way their long-nosed sniper pushes his face against Straw-Hat’s as they fight over a piece of meat on the plate. It’s in the way their navigator Nami hangs onto Nico Robin’s arm as they flick through fashion magazines together, Nami excitedly pointing out items she’s interested in as Nico Robin smiles indulgently. It’s in the way the cyborg claps a huge hand on Black-Leg’s shoulder as thanks for the _super delicious dinner you’ve cooked, really Sanji, it was great_ as Black-Leg grins in pride. It’s in the way the swordsman Zoro lets Dr. Tony clamber all over him whilst he’s mid-nap in the middle of a game of chase with the sniper and Straw-Hat without so much as cracking open an eye. It’s in the way Straw-Hat laughs, wide and boisterous, as he launches himself into their skeletal musician’s arms to ask for a song, and in the way their musician always, always obliges, violin in his hands stringing out a jaunty sea shanty that has people singing along with arms slung over each other’s hips and shoulders.

It’s utterly incomprehensible. Law doesn’t understand it.

He wants to know what pushes the Straw-Hats to interact with each other the way they do—the reasoning behind their casual brush of shoulders, their unthinking invasion of each other’s personal space, their careless contact with each other that seems as natural and simple as air.

Thing is, of course, is that there really is no subtle way to even remotely broach a topic like this. Law figures that he can probably just observe the Straw-Hat Pirates on his own and get the answers from there, passively, over the course of the days he spends on the ship, but it turns out that this issue actually bugs Law more than he thought it would. As the days go by and Law watches the Straw-Hat pirates more and more without any real answer in sight, he grows increasingly more frustrated. Law doesn’t like not _knowing_ things.

So when Straw-Hat bounces his way out of the dining room after lunch, Law’s eyes can only fixate on the way Straw-Hat hoists Dr. Tony easily onto the top of his head, grasping onto his tiny hooves with his hands as they cheer loudly about catching a Sea King during fishing or something of that similar nonsensical fashion. Dr. Tony’s legs settle themselves comfortably around Straw-Hat’s neck as he seats himself on top of his captain’s shoulders. He makes it look natural, as though he belongs there, and Law doesn’t _understand._

‘Why does he keep doing that?’ Law grumbles out loud without thinking, as Straw-Hat and Dr. Tony race out of the doorway.

Nico Robin, who is currently sitting across from him at the dining table with a book and a steaming cup of coffee, looks up. ‘Who does what, Torao?’ She asks, curiously.

Law curses inwardly. _Fuck._ He’d accidentally said that out loud.

In response, Law doesn’t say anything. But from the way Robin observes how he quickly averts his eyes from the doorway, Law knows that she probably already has guessed. Nico Robin is smart and scarily perceptive, and though Law respects and appreciates her calm maturity and intelligence (a welcome change of pace from the chaos that is the rest of the ship), Law sometimes forgets that she is still a Straw-Hat pirate, and being a Straw-Hat pirate meant a certain kind of die-hard tenacity and unpredictability that is hard for Law to deal with. The glint in Robin’s eyes right now looks downright demonic. Law briefly considers jumping out through the nearest porthole.

Long-Nose, who’s currently stationed at the benches against the dining room wall tinkering with some odd-shaped contraption, glances their way curiously. ‘What’re you guys talking about?’

‘Nothing,’ Law grinds out, and Long-Nose shrinks a little at his glare.

‘Torao is merely asking about Luffy’s closeness with everyone, Usopp,’ Robin, unperturbed, takes a sip of her coffee.

Long-Nose furrows his brows. ‘Hm, Luffy?’ He scratches his chin and looks upwards in thought. ‘But we’re his crewmates, isn’t natural for us to be close?’

‘In terms of physical affection, he means.’

‘Oh.’

‘Don’t think about it so hard,’ Black-Leg advises as he steps around the island counter and sets down a plate of freshly-sliced fruits onto the table, swooning slightly at the smile of thanks Nico Robin shoots his way.

He straightens up and turns to look at Law. ‘It’s just the way Luffy is,’ Black-Leg says, waving his hand. ‘He doesn’t understand the concept of restraint, and that applies to his ideas of physical contact too. Probably doesn’t even notice he does it, the idiot.’

Law frowns. ‘But that doesn’t explain why all of you do it yourselves as well.’

Black-Leg blinks, halfway through lighting up a cigarette and putting it to his mouth. ‘We do?’

Law raises an eyebrow. _So they haven’t noticed?_ ‘Yes, you do. Not just with Straw-Hat-ya, either, but with everybody else.’

As they speak, Long-Nose gets up from the bench and wanders over to the table to grab a few pieces of fruit for himself, neatly dodging Black-Leg’s half-hearted swatting.

‘Well, I guess we do,’ Long-Nose muses, thinking about it with mouth full of fruit. ‘We’re a lot more candid with body contact I suppose. Like, see—’ Long-Nose circles the table to stand next to Black-Leg, and slings an arm across his shoulder to pull him closer; Black-Leg doesn’t protest, merely adjusts his feet so as to better accommodate the new position that he’s in. The way he does it makes it seem automatic, almost instinctive, and it seems that Black-Leg himself isn’t aware of it either, as he looks down at his own feet in mild bewilderment. Law snorts.

‘Hm, I guess you’re right.’ Black-Leg takes a drag of his cigarette, making no move to extricate himself from Long-Nose’s grasp. ‘I never noticed.’

‘Yeah, me neither, until Torao brought it up.’ Long-Nose turns to Law. ‘But isn’t that just a natural thing to happen when you’re close with somebody? We’re all crewmates too; we’re friends and we care for each other.’

Nico Robin taps her chin with a long elegant finger; her book put aside to better focus on the conversation at hand. ‘I suppose you could say that Luffy has influenced us to be a lot more physically close with each other? It’s probably true for a lot of us that we didn’t use to be that close with others before meeting Luffy.’

That a lot of them didn’t really have anybody to _be_ close to in that way before meeting Luffy, is a statement that goes unsaid. Law flinches slightly, but when he looks up Nico Robin’s smile is as placid as ever, patient and unbothered.

‘That’s probably it, actually,’ Sanji exhales out a stream of smoke. ‘Luffy’s our captain, after all. And whatever our captain says goes.’

The other two Straw-Hat pirates in the room nod in agreement. The simplicity of that declaration, in its single-minded devotion, stuns Law.

‘Even if it’s some other god-awful crazy idea,’ Long-Nose adds. ‘Oh my god, do you remember that time back on that island with all the windmills—?’

Sanji snorts loudly. ‘How could I forget? That fucking idiot decided it was a damn good idea to crash his way through the—’

As Black-Leg and Long-Nose reminisce about their past adventures, Nico Robin picks up her coffee, and takes another drink. ‘If you’re really that curious, why don’t you just ask Luffy about it yourself?’ She suggests, over the howls of laughter coming from Long-Nose. Nico Robin smiles enigmatically. ‘You would probably get a clearer answer from him than you would from any of us.’

Law holds her gaze for a moment, before dropping his eyes and getting up from the table, pulling his hat low over his face. What he chooses to do after this conversation is none of her business.

Nico Robin turns back to Black-Leg and Long-Nose’s conversation. Their voices and laughter get cut off as Law shuts the door behind him, and Law goes off in search for a place to think by himself.

.

.

.

That night, long after the stars have strung themselves high in the sky and the moon glows yellow and waning, Law finds Straw-Hat—Law shakes his head—finds _Luffy_ sitting by himself, high up at the lion figurehead, staring out over the darkened sea. Law doesn’t say anything, but simply stands and waits.

Luffy turns his head. ‘Oh, Torao!’ He beams, and his smile is a bright thing in the dark. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘I want to talk to you.’ Law says.

Luffy wrinkles his nose. ‘Is it more alliance stuff?’ He asks, displeased, but makes to come down anyway.

‘No.’

‘Oh, good!’ Luffy pauses and thinks about it for a moment. ‘Then come up here,’ he says authoritatively, patting the seat next to him.

Law shoots him a look. ‘What.’

‘Come up here!’ Luffy insists. ‘I don’t feel like leaving my spot right now, so if we’re gonna talk, we’re gonna do it up here.’

‘Weren’t you going to come down just a few seconds ago?’

‘That was when we were gonna talk alliance things. My spot isn’t the place to talk about boring stuff.’

Law bristles as he makes his way up. ‘Discussing our alliance is not _boring_ ,’ he snaps. ‘We need to go over our strategy to make sure things go as smoothly as possible when we reach—’

‘Enough, Torao, I get it,’ Luffy whines. ‘And you said no boring talk, so don’t go back on your word!’

‘I didn’t promise anything of the sort,’ Law says, even as he begrudgingly settles down next to Luffy, gingerly rearranging himself so that he doesn’t take up _too_ much space. Law isn’t religious, not by a long shot, but it feels almost sacrilegious for him to be here; the unspoken rule of the Thousand Sunny has always been that the top of the lion figurehead is Luffy’s place. No other Straw-Hat pirate has ever been seen up here unless invited by Luffy himself, save for their cyborg shipwright when doing necessary repairs. Law reminds himself that he _had_ been invited, so things should be fine, but still. It feels wrong.

‘So, what did you want to talk about?’ Luffy asks, kicking up his legs.

Law hesitates. ‘Well.’

‘Hm?’ Luffy leans over and peers into Law’s face, as Law steadfastly avoids his eyes. ‘What’s this? Is Torao being _shy—_ ’

‘I am _not!’_

Luffy laughs, and the sound spirals up into the night sky before disappearing into nothing at all. ‘Okay, if you say so!’

They lapse into silence. Law stares fixedly up into the sky, lost in his own thoughts.

‘So what did you wanna ask?’

Startled, Law glances to his left to find Luffy sitting cross-legged and looking straight at him. His gaze is steady and unwavering, and when Law hastily drops his gaze, Luffy only snickers once in response. Suddenly the silence around them seems almost too heavy, uncomfortable and suffocating, and Law itches to leave. But he’s committed to what he’s set out to do, and Law does a lot of things but he doesn’t give up.

‘…How do you do it?’

Luffy tilts his head to the side. ‘Do what?’

‘You know.’ Luffy looks as though he decidedly does not know, so Law grits his teeth and goes on. ‘Touch people. Hug them, hold hands with them, things like that. How do you do that so… easily?’

Because the way Luffy does it makes it seem as natural as air. Luffy has so much love to give, Law has realised; it overflows out of him like a container threatening to spill, and the amount of devotion he has for friends, family, the people he loves and cares about, is as wide and boundless as the ocean, all impossibly contained into one small body and hoisted onto shoulders that stand surer than the sky. It’s his love that allows him to create miracles, over and over again—snatching Nico Robin back from the hands of the World Government, upsetting the world order that is the Celestial Dragons to save his mermaid friend, saving countries, islands, people. Straw-Hat Luffy does all those things out of love. Law knows that.

But still, Law cannot understand. How Luffy expresses his love so openly. So easily, as though he could never understand why anybody or anything could ever think to hurt it, hurt him with it, hurt others with it. What Law can’t comprehend, is precisely that. How Straw-Hat Luffy loves the people he does as though the world is too small.

Luffy stares hard at Law after his question, and Law feels profoundly uncomfortable. But then suddenly, he opens his arms.

‘Does Torao want a hug?’

‘What?’ Law is taken aback. Out of all the responses he expected, it sure isn’t _this._ ‘No—’

Luffy, as per usual, follows his own wants and policies of utterly ignoring _Law’s_ wants and policies, and Law soon finds himself wrapped up in loops of rubbery arms and limbs, the side of Luffy’s cheek rubbing insistently against Law’s own face. Law puts up a token struggle, just to prove a point, but gives up soon enough—he may not have known Luffy for as long as his crew has but even he knows that what Luffy wants, Luffy gets, and it’s pointless to fight against such things.

‘I don’t really get your question, Torao—’ Luffy’s voice sounds itself right next to Law’s ear, and it takes almost everything in Law to not flinch, ‘but I just do it, I guess? I don’t think too much about it—’

‘You don’t think much about anything, Straw-Hat-ya—’

‘—And my crew are all okay with it, since it’s part of how I show them I love them! Besides, if I don’t touch them how do I show them cool things, like a fish I just caught? And I don’t ever touch people who don’t _really_ wanna be touched, anyway.’

‘You’re touching me right now.’ Law points out.

Luffy snickers into Law’s ear. ‘Yeah, I am! But that’s ‘cause you actually like this—I know, I can tell.’

Law sputters. ‘What—I do _not—’_

‘To- _rao,’_ Luffy says, and the way he drags out the last syllable almost makes it sound like he’s _admonishing_ Law, of all things, ‘don’t lie to me.’

Law shuts up, grumbling.

The limbs around Law squeeze even tighter, even though Law didn’t previously think it possible. Luffy’s warm, heat radiating off him as though he’s never known a day out from under the sun, and against the bracing cold of the night ocean air the warmth is almost pleasant. Law finds himself relaxing into the hold.

‘There’s nothing with showing the people you love that you care for them, y’know,’ Luffy says, casually. ‘This is just one of _my_ ways.’

Law stiffens, before he forces himself to relax. Luffy, to his credit, doesn’t say anything about that.

‘…It must be nice to be able to just do that,’ Law mutters, unwillingly. His eyes are fixed to the horizon, at the point where the sea disappears into the night and Law can’t tell where one darkness ends and the other begins. ‘It’s different, for me.’

‘How so?’

Law doesn’t respond for a long while.

‘I’m not as generous as you,’ he finally says.

He’s too selfish, Law thinks. Too selfish about his love to ever want to risk it being hurt, too selfish to want to show it to everybody because he sees it as something to secret away. Too afraid for himself to ever want to risk saying it for somebody else. That’s not to say he doesn’t love, of course—but it is precisely because he has loved and lost that he is like this now. His mother, his father, Lami, Corazon, now all dead and silent and unable to hear him say _I love you,_ all buried underneath a white that Law sometimes still dreams about on his worse nights. His crew now, the Heart Pirates, his crewmates who are fiercely devoted to him and to whom he would lay his life for in return, if needed, but even still he is too much of a coward to ever tell them how much they mean to him. Or show them, by any of his own initiation.

‘Huh?’ Luffy says, jolting Law out of his spiralling thoughts. ‘I don’t get it, what does this have to do with gener—whatever the word is?’

‘I’m not _as fearless as you!’_ Law snaps, finally at the end of his patience. ‘I can’t just show people that I care for them with—with casual touches, or hugs, or things like that which seem to come so readily to you! People leave! People—’ Law raises his voice.

‘People _die!’_

Law’s fists are clenched from where they are on his lap. His last words seem to echo themselves over the ocean, spinning towards that distant point in the horizon before becoming nothing at all. Panting, Law blinks hard before taking deep breaths to calm himself down; as his heartrate returns to normal, Law becomes more and more aware of how Luffy is silent and still around him. Shame and guilt floods him in equal measure. He overreacted.

‘Torao,’ Luffy says, once Law has calmed down.

‘What?’ Law bites out, tired and irritated because his emotions are spent and he wants to _go,_ now. He came here for answers but it seems like he is going to get nothing, nothing except frustration and a whole lifetime’s worth of repressed memories digging themselves back up to the surface.

‘People don’t die because you love them, Torao.’ Luffy’s voice is low, serious. Law fights down the lump that’s rising in his throat out of both sheer stubborn pride and desperation, and doesn’t deign to answer. Still, Luffy persists.

‘Listen to me, Torao—people don’t die because you love them,’ Luffy’s voice is insistent and determined, and his breath blows itself warm across the shell of Law’s ear. ‘You’re not the cause of anything stupid like that. Because people die, sometimes, even _if_ you love them.’

And Law finds suddenly that he can’t breathe.

‘Sometimes,’ Luffy says, and his voice only shakes once before righting itself again as strong as a tree after a bitter storm, ‘even if you love someone very, very much, they’re going to die anyway. And—and not even your strongest punches can save them.’

The War of Marineford flashes itself in front of Law’s eyes, and he could almost kick himself for being so thoughtless. He should’ve known. He should’ve goddamn known, having seen Luffy up-close and personal in those terrible after-moments, raging and lonely with a desperately broken heart—when Portgas D. Ace had died Luffy had been so completely destroyed that he had passed out in the middle of a vicious battle with several high-ranking Marine admirals still rearing for his head, and Law had almost thought, in those long sleepless days afterwards working to save his life, that from the devastation alone Luffy might not have ever woken up again even if his extensive injuries had recovered. And then, Luffy afterwards, alive but so shattered that he might as well not have been, howling and denying and destroying everything in his vicinity as though that would bring his dead brother back to him again. It’s Luffy’s love that allows him to create miracles, over and over again, but the truth of the matter back then had been that love sometimes isn’t enough. Love isn’t always enough.

Law clenches his teeth. ‘Then what’s the point?’ He asks, and he sounds hopeless and heartbroken even to his own ears. He hates it. ‘What’s the point of showing anybody you love them, then?’

Luffy laughs again, but softly, this time, and the sound of is lighter than anything Law has ever heard in years. ‘It’s precisely because they might die, that you should show them you love them _now,_ Torao.’

And Law can only look out over the horizon, and think, _ah, I see. I see._

It’s not that Luffy loves because he thinks he has nothing to lose. It is precisely because Luffy understands what he _has_ to lose, that he can love as fiercely and unabashedly as he does, now. Despite the fact that people can die, Luffy still loves. That’s the explanation Law had been looking for. That’s the answer.

‘And anyway, I’ve trained for the last two years to become _way_ stronger, so I can protect the people I love from dying!’ Luffy’s voice rings loud and clear into the sky, like a proclamation, like a promise. ‘I’m gonna be the one who becomes Pirate King, after all!’

Law laughs once, a short, low sound that can barely be heard at all. Law is still in Luffy’s embrace. Luffy grins in response.

‘You all better now, Torao?’

Law smirks. ‘Who said I wasn’t in the first place?’

Luffy laughs. ‘Okay. If you say so.’

It probably won’t ever be as easy for Law as it is for Luffy. They’re different, after all. But he can take it one step at a time. For now, he’ll start with relaxing into the hug Luffy is currently giving him. That will have to do.

Law closes his eyes.

Through the night, the ship sails on and on and on.  
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**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be a funny fic then the last part made itself sad. Anyway, it seems that Luffy does manage to Hug the Void, at least, so I suppose that is fine. I honestly intended this to be more of a Straw-Hat Pirates friendship kind of fic, and then the lawlu kind of snuck itself in there. I guess you can read it as either lawlu or law&lu so make of that what you will. Also do me a favour and pretend this actually came out on Valentine’s Day like I intended it to instead like, you know, three days later. 
> 
> Also I started this fic at 10:53pm and now I’m ending this fic at 10:53pm, what do you know, serendipitous things CAN happen. 
> 
> Please leave comments or kudos if you liked this! Comments especially make my day, they're what encourages me to write :) I also have a [tumblr](http://guilty-lights.tumblr.com/), so come say hi!
> 
> [time ended: 17th Feb 19, 10:53pm;— ]


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